Portland Trail Blazers melt down the stretch to lose 95-87 against Atlanta Hawks: NBA Recap
Josh Smith shrugged off a stomach illness as he led Hawks to victory (95-87) over the Portland Trail Blazers on Monday night.
The Hawks power forward scored 19 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for his sixth straight double-double against the Trail Blazers. He was not the only one in the double-double zone as Al Horford had 15 points and 10 rebounds while
Kyle Korver added 16 points for the Hawks, who finished the game with a 10-0 run after trailing by 2 deep.
Hawks has suffered a defeat under similar circumstances the other night against the Los Angeles Clippers, but this time around, they were on the other end of a late scoring spree, the winning end.
"This was a really gutsy win by our guys," Hawks coach Larry Drew said. "We fell into a similar situation last night in L.A., where we played well for three quarters and then in the fourth quarter collapsed. Tonight we weathered
the storm."
J.J. Hickson had another day at the double-double office as he scored 19 points and grabbed 18 rebounds while Nicolas Batum added 19 points, and Wesley Matthews chipped in with 17 points for the Blazers.
Portland’s bench struggled again tonight, after being outscored 63-4 in their loss to San Antonio on Saturday, as their bench was outscored 26-6 by the Hawks bench tonight.
Hawks started the game with a bang, going up 9-0 instantly. It took Blazers some time to get into rhythm and they could not keep pace with the Hawks early on, trailing them by 7-20 at the halfway mark. They finally woke up and
went for a 10-2 spurt to cut the deficit to 17-22. A Devin Harris layup put the Hawks up 28-19 before Nicolas Batum sunk in a three pointer to close the period at 22-28.
Meyers Leonard’s free throws made it a four point game at 24-28 before Hawks compiled an 11-0 run, putting them in complete control of the game at 39-24. Or so it seemed. Portland cut the deficit to six points when Batum fired
in a three pointer to make it 37-43. Hawks, however, kept up the scoring and were leading 56-47 going into half time.
J.J. Hickson made a jump shot in the early goings of the third period to cut the deficit to 57-64. But the Hawks did not let them get close by less than four points in the entire period and closed the quarter leading 75-67.
Hawks seemed in total command of the game having led all the way and were up 78-67 early in the period. A 10-0 run by the Blazers though suddenly made it a one point game at 77-78. Hawks, at the back of their minds must be thinking
of a repeat of their last game against the Clippers, as the score was tied at 87. But it was not to be, as they scored the next 8 points to win the game by 95-87.
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